Nov. 9
SINGAPORE:
Lawyer takes Nguyen death penalty fight to UN
A lawyer will file a complaint with the United Nations, alleging that the
execution of Melbourne man Nguyen Tuong Van would be a serious miscarriage
of justice and violate Singapore's constitution.
M. Ravi, who has been a defence lawyer in 2 high-profile death penalty
cases in Singapore, also called on the Australian Government to refer
Singapore to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the grounds that
a mandatory death penalty was not consistent with customary international
law.
"The ICJ has more power to compel than the United Nations, and Singapore
is a signatory to the UN Human Rights Declaration and the Geneva
Convention," Mr Ravi said yesterday.
Nguyen, who could hang within weeks, exhausted his legal options of appeal
in Singapore when the President rejected his appeal for clemency.
If Geneva-based UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston agrees to hear Mr
Ravi's complaint, he can ask Singapore to stay Nguyen's execution pending
the inquiry, but it will be up to Singapore whether it complies.
Mr Ravi is filing the complaint as a private citizen. He is not involved
in Nguyen's defence team.
Singapore has the toughest drug trafficking laws in South-East Asia, with
a mandatory death sentence for anyone convicted of trafficking more than
15 grams of heroin.
Nguyen was convicted of trafficking 396 grams of heroin, which is likely
to have come from Burma's "golden triangle".
At a death penalty forum held in Singapore yesterday, a leading opposition
figure, Chee Soon Juan, said Singapore's tough stance on drug trafficking
was at odds with its relationship with a Burmese drug lord.
Dr Chee cited the Singapore Government Investment Corporation's 1990s
investment in the Myanmar Fund, controlled by Lo Hsing Han, one of Burma's
notorious opium drug lords, through his Asia World Company. Lo's son,
Stephen Law, is married to a Singaporean and is based in Singapore.
The death penalty forum and vigil held for Nguyen in Singapore on Monday
was only the 2nd such forum ever held in Singapore.
It attracted 100 mainly young people who came to listen and who did not
want to be quoted for fear of Government repercussions.
About 80 letters of support for Nguyen, urging that his life be spared,
were collected at the protest, including an emotional note from the mother
of a man hanged in Singapore in May. But police at Changi prison, where
Nguyen is being held, would not accept the letters.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will make a last-ditch plea
to save Nguyen's life when he meets his Singaporean counterpart George Yeo
at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meeting next week.
(source: The Age)
